Congressional Bills Withhold Sanction of Same-Sex Unions

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State-by-state skirmishes over prospective marriage rights for lesbians and gay men escalated into a national battle today with the introduction in Congress of bills that would deny Federal recognition of same-sex marriages if they were ever legalized.

The bills, introduced by Senator Don Nickles, Republican of Oklahoma, and Representative Bob Barr, Republican of Georgia, would also absolve states of the obligation to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

That gets to the heart of conservatives' concern that if Hawaii sanctions same-sex marriage in the next few years -- which is considered a possibility because of a pending court case there -- gay couples from around the nation will fly to the islands to be wed legally and then return to their home states to claim the benefits of civil marriage.

"If some state wishes to recognize same-sex marriage, they can do so," Mr. Nickles said today before introducing the measure, known as the Defense of Marriage Act. But he said the bill would insure that "the 49 other states don't have to and the Federal Government does not have to."

Mr. Barr emphasized that the bill "does not outlaw same-sex marriage." But by withholding Federal tax, welfare, pension, health, immigration and survivors' benefits, the bill would deny gay couples many of the civil advantages of marriage.

Critics of the legislation, including the American Civil Liberties Union, said Congress could not simply skirt Article 4 of the Constitution, which says that "full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state."

One opponent, Representative Patricia Schroeder, Democrat of Colorado, said: "You can't amend the Constitution with a statute. Everybody knows that. This is just stirring the political waters and seeing what hate you can unleash."

But Mr. Barr said that Article 4 allowed Congress to prescribe "the effect" of the "full faith and credit" clause and that the article had never been interpreted as forcing one state to violate its own public policy in accommodating the laws of another.

"Clearly, Congress has the jurisdiction to do what we're doing," he said.

Mr. Barr said he expected that the bill would move "very quickly" through the Judiciary Committee to the House floor for a vote. He said he anticipated strong bipartisan support, noting that the bill had two Democratic co-sponsors, Representatives Ike Skelton and Harold L. Volkmer, both of Missouri.

President Clinton is "against same-sex marriage," his senior adviser, George Stephanopoulos, said today, but he could not say whether Mr. Clinton would sign the bill, since he had not seen it.

Even Mrs. Schroeder conceded that the bill's chances were "probably very good -- it's right before an election." But Daniel Zingale of the Human Rights Campaign, a national lesbian and gay political group, said he was "cautiously optimistic" that members of Congress would stand up against "this kind of gay bashing," even if they opposed same-sex marriage.

For several months, conservative lawmakers around the nation have been introducing bills to foreclose recognition of same-sex marriages. Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah have passed such measures, according to the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a lesbian and gay organization. Legislation has been defeated, withdrawn or vetoed in 15 states and is pending in 8.

In New York, State Senator Serphin R. Maltese, Republican of Queens, introduced a bill on April 17 stating that "a marriage is absolutely void if contracted by two persons of the same sex, regardless of whether such marriage is recognized or solemnized in another jurisdiction." A companion bill in the Assembly was sponsored by Anthony S. Seminerio, Republican of Queens.

In a memorandum, Mr. Maltese said: "Heterosexual relationships traditionally have worked best for the raising of healthy children. In this sense, homosexual relationships are unnatural unions in our society."

But Assemblywoman Deborah J. Glick, a Manhattan Democrat who is a lesbian, said: "We're entitled to the same access to civic institutions. We have not seen Senator Maltese or Assemblyman Seminerio put forth a bill exempting gay men and lesbians in the state of New York from paying income taxes.

"Some people have been led to believe that their own marriage is somehow threatened if other people are allowed to marry," Ms. Glick said. "It's as if there's some finite pool of commitment and love in this world."